New Delhi, July 22: The US has offered India a stake in the development of a futuristic fighter aircraft called the F-35 and immediately ratcheted up its sales pitch for the F-16 Fighting Falcon that is one of the contenders for a $10-billion order from the Indian Air Force.

But even as a sales pitch, the offer to give India some kind of an indirect partnership in the F-35 programme is a show of confidence from the Pentagon on Indo-US military relations.

A team of officials from Lockheed Martin, makers of the F-16 and one of the leading firms in the fifth-generation fighter aircraft programme, gave a presentation at the IAF headquarters this week. The publicly unspoken reason for the offer is that should the IAF opt for the F-16, it may gain experience with a platform that would share compatibility with the F-35.

Rob Weiss, Lockheed Martin’s vice-president for business development, told PTI after the meeting that they had indicated that the F-35 was ready to be in the reckoning for India’s fighter needs beyond the induction of the 126 multi-role combat aircraft.

The offer would come in handy for India as the country’s security experts have been struggling to find partners to develop futuristic fifth-generation fighters. Though New Delhi has been negotiating with Moscow for joint development and investment in next-generation fighters, the Russian concepts of such fighters is currently only on the drawing board.

The first of the new-generation fighters are likely to be inducted into the US Air Force by the end of 2009 or early 2010.

“In the next few years, a number of countries are joining the F-35 programme and the Indian Air Force could also consider joining,” Weiss said. “We briefed top IAF officials about the new fighters.”

With embedded antennas, aligned edges, internal weapons and fuel and special coatings and material, the F-35 fighter uses stealth to pick and choose engagements. Weiss said the F-35 fighters boast the most powerful sensor suite ever to be fitted on a fighter plane.